By Courtney Knight
Boston University News Service
In recent years, the saying “coaches are hired to be fired” has become less of a saying and more of a guiding principle.
The 2025-26 season for most team sports has just begun, and already 11 teams across college football alone are in search of someone else to captain their ship. Things are trending similarly across the board for both college and professional sports.
It seems front offices have shortened the leash on coaches to the point that there is no room for error. The New Orleans Pelicans, who sit in last place in the Western Conference of the NBA, fired coach Willie Green 12 games into an 82-game season. UCLA football head coach DeShaun Foster got similar treatment after an 0-3 start cost him the job.
Even coaches who were previously thought to be untouchable have gotten the boot. James Franklin, who served as head coach of Penn State’s football program for 12 seasons, was fired in October. Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan, who held the role for ten years and coached the team for two back-to-back Stanley Cups, was let go in April.
There are plenty of reasons why a team might decide to fire a coach. While some organizations are quick to make a change after a slow start, others reach that point after years of disappointing beginnings and disappointing endings. This was the case with the New York Giants, who dismissed Brian Daboll after four seasons, during which he compiled an underwhelming 20-40-1 record and won just 11 games over his final two and a half years.
Tension between a player and a coach can play a big part, too. In professional sports, there’s a common belief that players often outlast a coach. Players are the ones to attract fans, and they bring skillsets that are far more difficult to replace than a head coach. This dynamic appeared to be at play in the Dallas Stars’ decision to part ways with head coach Pete DeBoer following his controversial choice to pull star goaltender Jake Oettinger in the first period of Game 5 in the 2025 NHL Western Conference Final.
Still, if a team dumps a coach every time there’s a little friction with a player, or just because the games get tough, it can make people wonder how stable the organization really is.
Taking on that instability and choosing to fire a coach can cost a team in several ways. There is always the issue of getting the players acclimated to a new system and respecting a new voice in the locker room, but there can also be a significant financial impact.
LSU coach Brian Kelly was relieved of his duties in late October, and now the team is engaged in a standoff worth $54 million over his ten-year contract. The team hoped to arrange a less expensive settlement that would save the team more money later on by coughing up more money upfront, but Kelly and his lawyers are holding firm and demanding the full payout.
Penn State was on the line for what would have been the second-largest buyout in college football history, as they initially owed James Franklin $49 million over the next six years. Luckily for them, negotiations led to a payout of just $9 million when it became clear Franklin would be accepting a head coaching position with Virginia Tech.
Part of the issue may be that fans and organizations naturally want to root out the source of their bad luck. In the end, coaches are the ones directing the team. They’re the ones deciding who plays, for how long, and what they’re supposed to do. It’s their job to turn the team’s talent into wins. This makes them an easy target when things go wrong, or have been going wrong for some time.
More often than not, coaches who are let go don’t stay unemployed for long. They quickly land with another team, whether it’s in the pros, a minor league, or college. For example, Mike Sullivan wrapped up ten seasons in Pittsburgh and joined the New York Rangers just days later.
Coaching can be a lot like a revolving door— they might not know if their current job will last, but chances are another one is waiting just around the corner.
